Ruptured gas line causes afternoon evacuation of Hilton Garden Inn

Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimoA leaking gas line caused the Hilton Garden Inn and a nearby daycare center to be evacuated.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomfield and a nearby day care center were evacuated yesterday after a construction vehicle working on a new wing to the hotel struck a high-pressure gas line.

No one was injured or overcome by fumes, according to the FDNY.

Emergency responders from the FDNY and National Grid workers evacuated the hotel’s employees and guests and the day care center’s teachers and children.

Officials shut off the gas and searched and vented the buildings before anyone was allowed to re-enter them.

Kristi Clagna of Houston, who was staying at the hotel, smelled the fumes in her sixth-story room. She said an announcement was made over a loudspeaker for guests to evacuate.

She referred to the evacuation as “very nice, very calm, very orderly.”

Hotelier Richard Nicotra commended the FDNY for its response.

“I’m more than happy to pay my taxes for that,” he said. “They did a great job.”